I think a struggle in many other countries, including the UK, is that the housing stock is old and was not built for energy-efficiency. We have Extinction Rebel

I think a struggle in many other countries, including the UK, is that the housing stock is old and was not built for energy-efficiency. We have Extinction Rebellion going on about insulating all the houses in Britain but this is not practical, as much as I am a big believer (and purchaser!) of insulation. We wonder how much we could reduce the need for something as unwanted as another nuclear power station (another reactor on an existing site is probably less bad). Countries in the far north have had years to learn that they need good insulation and with a low population density, a relatively small amount of energy goes a long way. Compare to the UK, France, Germany, USA, Brasil etc. who have very large populations and either very hot or very cold weather and you have the problem with privately owned buildings who you cannot easily coerce into spending on their own energy efficiency but the gains would be entirely in the homeowners pocket so why should the taxpayer foot the bill? There are really obvious things that should be emergency legislation by anyone without their head in the sand and that is 1) Changes to the requirements for new-builds including improving the standard of checks since a lot of it is easily gamed by the developers and 2) Getting rid of VAT and possibly subsidising insulation products so that a good number of people who could do it might be persuaded that they can now afford it. Insulating a loft in the UK could easily cost £300 DIY or £500+ if you paid someone, which for many households is a large amount of money. Once you add it the more difficult insulating, the costs would be enormous.